LIVERPOOL, England — For the 22 years it has existed, Wavertree, a multiethnic, mostly working-class constituency in the northern city of Liverpool, has voted exclusively for Labour. It has been a safe seat in a strongly socialist city; at the most recent general election, the party’s candidate took four-fifths of the vote.

So its local leaders were aghast when tiny Wavertree emerged as the locus of the latest feud over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, when its member of Parliament, Luciana Berger, resigned this week after receiving anti-Semitic abuse, and with local Labour activists having called her a “disruptive Zionist” and a supporter of a “murdering” government.

“It has always been a Labour government that addressed racism,” said one of the district’s city council members, David Cummings. “I’m proud of that. I’m a socialist. I’m an internationalist. When you’re a socialist you recognize everybody, you don’t judge anyone on anyone’s background.”

The tensions only deepened this week as an eighth Labour lawmaker quit the party, accusing its leader of infecting it “with the scourge of anti-Jewish racism.”

Joan Ryan joined a group of seven Labour defectors who had resigned earlier this week in protest of their left-wing leader, Jeremy Corbyn, criticizing his ambiguity over Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union and accusing him of tolerating anti-Semitism in the party.

And just hours before Ms. Ryan’s defection, another Labour member of Parliament came under fire for suggesting that the seven rebel lawmakers might have had financial backing from Israel, in what critics said invoked a well-known trope.

“Over the past three years, the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn has become infected with the scourge of anti-Jewish racism,” Ms. Ryan wrote in a statement posted on her Twitter account. The problem did not exist in the party before he was elected leader, she said, adding, “No previous Labour leader would have allowed this huge shame to befall the party.”

Mr. Corbyn is a vehement and unapologetic critic of the current Israeli government, but has failed to shake off claims that he has tolerated anti-Semitism within Labour’s ranks. His supporters, many of them Jewish, deny those claims, arguing that instances of anti-Semitism in the party have fallen since he became leader and that criticism of the Israeli government does not equate to a hatred of Jews.

His critics respond that while comments made by some party members may not be overtly anti-Semitic, they represent dog-whistle politics.

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The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, a vehement and unapologetic critic of the current Israeli government, has failed to shake off claims that he has tolerated anti-Semitism within the party’s ranks.CreditTolga Akmen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“I cannot remain in a party that I have come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti-Semitic,” Ms. Berger said on Monday. She had been threatened with a vote of no-confidence by local party activists for her public criticisms of Mr. Corbyn, but the motion was eventually withdrawn. She then came under attack from local Labour activists in her constituency, who accused her of supporting the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians.

One example was brought to light this week by The Jewish Chronicle. Ms. Berger was “a supporter of the Zionist Israeli government,” one of the activists, Margaret Tyson, wrote in a tirade on Facebook in November, The Chronicle reported. “How can we not have empathy with Palestinians when they are not up against these murdering, Zionest (sic) bastards. Their NAZI masters have taught them well.”

Another local Labour member, Kenneth Campbell, described Ms. Berger as a “disruptive Zionist.” Neither could be reached for comment.

In response, Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, said last week that the party was investigating its Wavertree branch. On Tuesday, the Liverpool offices of both Ms. Berger and the local party were locked, and no one responded to repeated knocks on their doors.

The Liverpool Wavertree Labour Party rejected the claims of anti-Semitism. “Our chair is himself Jewish,” a statement read, and the suggestion that the local affiliate “is in any way a party to bullying and anti-Semitism is a false and slanderous accusation.”

The council member, Mr. Cummings, said, “I have never experienced any anti-Semitism in regards to Luciana Berger.” While allowing that there was a lot of anti-Semitism on social media, he said that he had heard people disagree with Ms. Berger’s politics, but never “heard anybody refer to her religion or ethnic background.”

He acknowledged that Ms. Berger, a Londoner and a centrist Labour candidate, was viewed by some locals as having been “parachuted” into Wavertree and having tenuous connections with her constituency.

Alex Scott-Samuel, the chairman of the local party, declined to comment. Earlier this month, the University of Liverpool distanced itself from Dr. Scott-Samuel after he appeared on a radio show hosted by a noted conspiracy theorist, David Icke, and talked about the role of the Rothschilds in spreading neoliberalism.

Last week, Labour’s general secretary, Jennie Formby, revealed that the party had received 673 complaints of anti-Semitism by its members in the last 10 months. In a letter, Ms. Formby said that 96 members were immediately suspended for their conduct between April 2018 and January 2019, and 12 were expelled.

The data, published by the BBC, also revealed that 146 members received a first warning and 220 cases were dropped for lack of evidence of a breach of party rules. Of the 307 members who were suspended or notified of an investigation, 44 left the party.

“I totally reject the suggestion that the existence of anti-Semitism in our party is a smear,” Ms. Formby said, after being pushed by Labour lawmakers to reveal what kind of disciplinary action was being taken. “I have seen hard evidence of it, and that is why I have been so determined to do whatever is possible to eliminate it from the party.”

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Joan Ryan also resigned from the Labour Party on Wednesday, citing the party’s failure to confront anti-Semitism as one of her main reasons.CreditAgence France-Presse — Getty Images

Still, the problem — or at least the perception of anti-Semitism festering in the party’s ranks — is as persistent as crab grass.

On Tuesday, Ruth George, a member of Parliament for a district of Derbyshire, apologized for suggesting it was “possible” that the seven lawmakers who split from Labour this week were being supported by the Israeli government.

Ms. George said she meant only to say it was “important for democracy to know the financial backers for any political group or policy.” In her apology, she said she “had no intention of invoking a conspiracy theory and I am deeply sorry that my ill-thought out and poorly worded comment did this.”

Jewish Voice for Labour, set up in 2017 to take on allegations of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, defended Ms. George.

Jenny Manson, a leader of the group, said in an interview that invoking conspiracy theories, while dangerous, did not necessarily equate to anti-Semitism and that they had to be taken in context.

She also defended Mr. Corbyn, saying that anti-Semitism had fallen under his leadership. “I’ve never felt that anti-Semitism is rife” in the Labour Party, she said. “I have not seen actual evidence that there is a major problem in the Labour Party.”

She further said that the Conservative Party had its own problems with anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, but that those went largely unreported by the news media.

The chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council, Jonathan Goldstein, said Ms. Manson’s strong defense of Labour was not surprising, given that the Jewish Voice for Labour was “set up to deny anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.”

Some analysts say the criticism over anti-Semitism has been blown out of proportion by people seeking to take down Mr. Corbyn.

“Is anti-Semitism rife in the Labour party? No,” said Jon Tonge, professor of politics at the University of Liverpool and an expert in Labour Party affairs. “Has Corbyn made a few mistakes in handling it? Yes. In broader terms, Labour M.P.s think he’s unelectable and anti-Semitism is a battering ram to attack Corbyn.”

Correction:Feb. 22, 2019

An earlier version of this article misidentified the organization with which Jonathan Goldstein is affiliated, and his role in it. He is the chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council, not the editor of The Jewish Chronicle.

Correction:March 14, 2019

An earlier version of this article misstated Jeremy Corbyn’s connection to Jewish Voice for Labour. It is not the case that Mr. Corbyn played a role in setting up the group.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A7 of the New York edition with the headline: In Debate on Labour And Anti-Semitism, Liverpool Is a Hot Spot. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe